2017 - Sharing Our Year (the Disney Version)

"We need a nation closer to the Waltons than the Simpsons."
(George Bush Snr. - be careful what you wish for)

This blog has been created by me - Tina - and no permission has been sought or given for the contents. The video has been compiled by going through my photos and memories of the year (hence my life and friends feature a little too prominently), and by raiding the family's Facebook and WhatsApp posts. I take full responsibility for any indiscretions, unflattering photographs, breaches of copyright, family fights or relationship breakdowns that result.

We look more like the Waltons than the Simpsons, but that's because people tend not to take photos or selfies while slamming doors, screeching at each other on street corners or flouncing off to bed in a huff. So as you can see, we frolicked on beaches and had lots of holidays and ate sumptuous dinners and drank lots of wine. While the blonde buffoon got his finger on the nuclear button and Brexiteers went on the rampage, we just kept partying and smiling. It's called the Dunkirk spirit.

But to be a little more serious, in preparing this I've spent many hours trawling through photos and scrolling through endless Facebook posts, and I'm left with a feeling of gratitude beyond words. I've tried to piece together images of a year that has, in our small family circle, been better than some others. Last year was haunted by the deaths of my mother and stepfather. This year has been kinder to us, though not without mourning. Our lovely friend Helen Dunmore died in June, and wrote a poem in her dying days that is luminous in its tenderness and grace. Little lives flickered briefly into our world and left again - longed-for children miscarried in early pregnancies, lending a note of poignancy to our joy as we await the arrival of a second baby for Morven and Daniel in early January. Daniel was born on Boxing Day. There's something wondrous about the arrival of a baby in this season of birth and hope.

This comes with love and thankfulness for all our friends and for the small acts of kindness that continue to hold our world together in spite of it all.

Finally, I may have shared this video before, but given the times that we live in, it seems appropriate to share it again.

May Christmas be lovely for you and those you love.